Yet in Europe I’ve seen kids that are no chance older than this getting on crowded public transport to go where they need.
I grew up with a mom that was way too worried about some bullshit she saw about kidnapping on TV despite living somewhere that at the time was definitely safe to roam around. It wasn’t great. If I hadn’t been at least spared to stay home by myself from around age 10, I’d never learned to be independent.
Yeah, I grew up in a (relatively) very safe part of Aus, and I wasn't even allowed to catch the school bus. Ever. Not even as a teenager. The only way I managed to force my parents to allow me slightly more independence (such as to let me catch public busses) was to simply refuse to allow them to pick me up, walked into town with my friends, and caught the bus anyway, which in turn left them waiting around at the school gates for no reason. And this is like, when I'm 16...
They didn't even leave me home alone overnight until I was an adult (instead, if they had to go somewhere, I was forced to go stay with extended family. Never friends. Only "family"). They also dictated who I could be friends with (as much as they could, such as by losing people's phone numbers when I was younger) and only allowed friends they chose to visit my house.
These things really, really mess you up. Especially when you live in a rural area, and can't even just... Walk to the shops very easily, let alone go see your friends.
Consequently, I'm a terribly messed up adult, but if I ever do get to have children, I would never, ever put them though what I had to deal with.
Edit: To add to this, my parents raided my bank account (with my own earned money in it) multiple times, as a teenager and adult, to the point where I had to change my details at said bank. They also hacked my personal email account and social media. While I was at university. And finally, they would, not infrequently, turn up to places I was staying (uni accommodation, housing, whatever) unannounced, if they hadn't heard from me in say, five days, and demand that I accommodate them. In my dorm room. Interstate...
When I came back at age 23 for my five-year school reunion, we decided, as a group, to go to a bar after the official "event" was over. I had been living out of home for years at this point. But I "hadn't told [my parents] about the change of plans". So my mother drove around and around the relevant city blocks, following my group of friends as we walked down the street, to see what we were doing and where we were going.
I've never forgiven them for that. I didn't even go to my 10 year reunion, surprise surprise...
So when I say "shit was bad", I unfortunately really do mean it...
Anyway, I feel ya. And I'm sorry you went through that, too. But I also just felt like a rant, lol...
Aus seems like the one place where it's legitimately dangerous to exist without a buddy system. Fuck your spiders. And your snakes. And your ants. And your centipedes.
Yet in Europe I’ve seen kids that are no chance older than this getting on crowded public transport to go where they need.
I grew up with a mom that was way too worried about some bullshit she saw about kidnapping on TV despite living somewhere that at the time was definitely safe to roam around. It wasn’t great. If I hadn’t been at least spared to stay home by myself from around age 10, I’d never learned to be independent.
Yeah, I grew up in a (relatively) very safe part of Aus, and I wasn't even allowed to catch the school bus. Ever. Not even as a teenager. The only way I managed to force my parents to allow me slightly more independence (such as to let me catch public busses) was to simply refuse to allow them to pick me up, walked into town with my friends, and caught the bus anyway, which in turn left them waiting around at the school gates for no reason. And this is like, when I'm 16...
They didn't even leave me home alone overnight until I was an adult (instead, if they had to go somewhere, I was forced to go stay with extended family. Never friends. Only "family"). They also dictated who I could be friends with (as much as they could, such as by losing people's phone numbers when I was younger) and only allowed friends they chose to visit my house.
These things really, really mess you up. Especially when you live in a rural area, and can't even just... Walk to the shops very easily, let alone go see your friends.
Consequently, I'm a terribly messed up adult, but if I ever do get to have children, I would never, ever put them though what I had to deal with.
Edit: To add to this, my parents raided my bank account (with my own earned money in it) multiple times, as a teenager and adult, to the point where I had to change my details at said bank. They also hacked my personal email account and social media. While I was at university. And finally, they would, not infrequently, turn up to places I was staying (uni accommodation, housing, whatever) unannounced, if they hadn't heard from me in say, five days, and demand that I accommodate them. In my dorm room. Interstate...
When I came back at age 23 for my five-year school reunion, we decided, as a group, to go to a bar after the official "event" was over. I had been living out of home for years at this point. But I "hadn't told [my parents] about the change of plans". So my mother drove around and around the relevant city blocks, following my group of friends as we walked down the street, to see what we were doing and where we were going.
I've never forgiven them for that. I didn't even go to my 10 year reunion, surprise surprise...
So when I say "shit was bad", I unfortunately really do mean it...
Anyway, I feel ya. And I'm sorry you went through that, too. But I also just felt like a rant, lol...
Aus seems like the one place where it's legitimately dangerous to exist without a buddy system. Fuck your spiders. And your snakes. And your ants. And your centipedes.
And the crocodiles big enough to win fights with large trucks.